Is There Such A Thing As A Bad Day Of Caching?

[+golfdiva]

I was caching this afternoon in a beautiful, isolated park, great cache, nice hides, but oh what I time I had!! On the way to the final, I tried to take a short cut. Didn't realize that that "field" was an almost dry swamp! Sank in up to my knees! I got the left shoe out, but the other is making it's way to the bottom. (I left the left shoe sitting on a log as a warning to those who follow!!) I decided to carry on in my stocking feet!

 

Then, when I was about 70 feet from the cache, I was looking under some brush and got poked in the face w/ some branches. A few minutes later, I tried to check my GPS and couldn't see it! Turned out the poke had knocked my glasses off! I crawled around for quite a while trying to find them then gave up.

 

I had been congratulating myself on remembering to mark the car before I left so I would be able to find my way back. Well...here I am with wet cold feet, exhausted and lost cause I can't see my GPS!!

 

I took one last stab at the cache, and would you believe I found it!!!

 

I started making my way back to the car. I ended up having to prop the GPS on logs, etc. to get it far enough away to just barely read! I went the wrong way several times and had to back track cause I couldn't see the arrow!!

 

But, I finally made it and lived to tell about it! lol Some want to reminded me why I took up this hobby?

[+IV_Warrior]

To have stories like that to tell, to brighten up the day for the rest of us?

[Utsman]

Well I modified a saying to make you feel better;

 

A bad day of caching is better than a good day at work!

Edited October 16, 2005 by Utsman

[+nctreker]

On the brightside you left both your shoes and glasses. Gotta call that trading up.

[+Old Bill]

Hey, not that you had a banner day either, but it could be worse.

Edited October 16, 2005 by Old Bill

[+graveyard mom]

Sure there is such a thing...a few weeks ago I tried to take my14 yr old nephew along to introduce him to the sport. I had just gotten a new gpsr and thought about giving him my old one. Well, come to find out he #1 didn't want to go into the woods. ever. because of the spiders. #2 didnt' want to look for anything where there might be spiders. #3 actually sat in the car listening to his cd player during a couple of stops. We hardly found half of the caches we went looking for and once we got close to the end of the day I was barely spending 10 seconds looking because I just wanted to go home. It was irritating, but luckily we(my hubby, daughter and I)went out again the next day to get back in the "spirit" and I know better than to take a certain person out again.

 

BTW, I gave the old gpsr to my 6yr old daughter instead!

[+JohnnyVegas]

For me when it is really hot out y brain seems to want to melt down re, finding caches, that is when I go catch a movie instead of looking for a cache.

Some other cachers i have talked have also had problems with the heat and finding caches.

[+ParrotRobAndCeCe]

Nah, no such thing as a bad day. What I want to know is how you managed to drive home without your glasses

[+tls11823]

I have a pair of sneakers that I had to pull out of the rich, black loam of a Northern Ireland bog and a few months later out of a Louisiana bayou. (I don't take hiking boots on business trips, but maybe I should start.) When I have these adventures I'm cursing and complaining about my luck and stupidity. But by the time I get back to the hotel, shower off the mud, and do my best to clean my shoes and clothes in the bathtub, I realize how funny it all was, and that these will be some of my fondest caching memories. At least you won't forget about this adventure!

[+JeeperMTJ]

A couple of weekends ago I did a series of tradtionals. I used the bike to get to each one faster. The last one looked pretty easy. When I got there, I was all fenced up. Finally I found a small old logging path which was in pretty bad shape. It had rainded for days and it was all wet and muddy. Needless to say that I looked like a pig. You could hardly drive the bike, most of the time I had to push it. When I thought the path got better, I jumped on the bike again. I oversaw a ditch though, the bike came to an immediate stop in the mud and I flew right in the mud. Now I really looked like a mud wrestler.

At the end of the path I discovered a nice paved road leading to the cache from the other side. Brand new and not in the map. And I did not find the cache because of bad sat reception with an EPE of 30m. Now that was definitely a bad day of caching.

[Skovar]

Is There Such A Thing As A Bad Day Of Caching?

 

You betcha ... they are the most desirable and sought-after geocaching days. The bad days turn people into geocaching legends; nobody cares about the ordinary.

Edited October 16, 2005 by Skovar

[+Rick618]

What he said....likely not going to remember the lifted the lampskirt SLTN, but will remember the lifted the skirt got slapped with the lamp

[+sept1c_tank]

There is no such thing as a bad day of caching.

[Skovar]

There is no such thing as a bad day of caching.

You have a clam for a relative?

[+golfdiva]

Ya, it could have been worse, I could be nearsighted and not been able to drive home! (I got old eyes and can't see close up, faraway is find!)

 

he #1 didn't want to go into the woods. ever. because of the spiders. #2 didnt' want to look for anything where there might be spiders.

 

LOL good thing he hadn't been along w/ me yesterday!!

 

Thanks for the encouraging words and funny stories! I'm not sour on caching at all. In fact, the shoes were very old, and I needed a stronger prescription for my glasses anyway!! I'm just not sure how I'm gonna mark all those student's papers tomorrow when I can't read em!! Maybe einie meanie minie moe?

[+Rick618]

Just let them grade each others, save your eyes for later.

[+geognerd]

My events aren't bad, but not good either. I recently found a multi where the final stage had bad coords. They had me searching in poison ivy and thorns. I came out unscathed and found the cache, which turned out to be a rather smashed and dirty piece of GladWare.

 

Then there was the time I was scouting out a place to hide a cache. I was checking out a park adjacent to a cemetery. You had to drive through and park in the cemetery to reach the park. Well, I drove in at around 4:35PM. Turned out the cemetery closed at 4:30. They just hadn't gotten around to closing the gate and I didn't see the sign with the cemetery hours. I couldn't find any good hiding spots in the park, so I walked back to the car and went to leave. I got to the gate and saw it was closed and locked. I then tried another gate. It was closed too. Fortunately a policeman was parked there running his radar on speeders. I got his attention and explained my predicament. I was locked in the cemetery. The cemetery was city-owned so he was able to get someone out there in 10 minutes who opened the cemetery and I was able to get out. For this reason I won't place a cache in that park, since it's only accessible thru the cemetery and I don't want anyone else to get locked in.

[+maritimedriver]

The first time I took my kids out. My three year old fell and cut her head. I had to carry her out of the woods and to the hospital. It didn't exactly put Geocaching on her mother's top ten list.

[+joefrog]

For this reason I won't place a cache in that park, since it's only accessible thru the cemetery and I don't want anyone else to get locked in.

yeah, but think of the stories it would generate! Just add another star to the difficulty rating!

[+Ed Rad]

I would say no.